An island called Celestial Tiamat emerges and is discovered to be rich in adamantium, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) is elected President of the United States on a platform of free trade in the precious, indestructible metal. Months pass and the President hires Sam Wilson or the new Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and Jocquin Torres or the Falcon (Danny Ramirez), to intercept an illegal sale of stolen adamantium in Oaxaca, by the Serpent Society, led by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). Then Wilson is introduced to Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) for more training.
President Ross invites Wilson to the White House and brings Joachin Torres and Bradley with him. Ross plans to reform the Avengers under Ross’s leadership. Wilson hesitates because of the way President Ross had dealt with superheroes in the past. A song called Mr. Bill is played, which hypnotises Bradley and some others into attacking Ross and the other leaders. They are arrested by Ross’s Head of Security, Black Widow agent Ruth Bat-Seraph (Chira Haas).
Torres, to save them, with Wilson, investigates. Wilson captures Sidewinder and invades a black site called Camp Echo One in West Virginia. All of Ross’s protectors except Bradley are murdered by a mind-controlled prison guard. Ross discovers that the mastermind of the attack is Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) or Leader, who has advanced intellect from being exposed to Bruce Banner’s blood. Ross forces him to create high tech for the military. Stens intends to take revenge.
Wilson and Torres enter Camp Echo One and are confronted by Stens, who unleashes American pilots upon them, but they survive with the help of Bat-Seraph. Ross is to be destroyed by war between the U.S. and her allies. Ross and the Prime Minister of Japan (Takehiro Hira) claim Celestial Island. Wilson, Torres, and Bat-Seraph go there and the Japanese force is attacked by forces under mind-control. Torres is critically injured. Wilson learns that President Ross is dying of heart-failure and that is why he is taking the Hulk’s blood.
Wilson is consoled by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Sands), Captain America’s old friend. Sterns surrenders to Wilson but before he is arrested, he unleashes the gamma radiation in Ross, who transforms into the Red Hulk and destroys the White House. Wilson lures him into the cherry blossom garden to use the President’s memories of his estranged daughter Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) to calm him down. They fight until they are exhausted and Ross returns to normal. Bradley is exonerated, Torres regains consciousness and Ross has himself incarcerated.
The film, of course, was produced by Marvel Studios and it was directed by Julius Onah from a screenplay by Rob Edward, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, and Peter Glanz. The last Captain America movie was Captain America: Civil War in 2016. That was the end of Chris Evans playing Steve Rogers, and the Captain America torch was picked up by Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. It was released to mixed reviews. One wonders if having five writers contributed to this.
Wilson is not a genetically enhanced super soldier like Steve Rogers and he relies on his inherited vibranium shield and his own vibranium wingsuit. The charm of Steve Rogers as Captain America was his contrast with the rest of the Avengers. The character, who had been sleeping since World War II, was an uncool, rather uptight, boy scout of a figure, dropped into a team of a womanizing, wisecracking billionaire scientist, an upstart kid in a Spidey suit, a gorgeous but deadly Russian assassin, and a brilliant scientist that turns into a rampaging giant at sometimes awkward moments. Oh yes, and an immortal Norse god. The idea of a hip Captain America seems a bit strange.
But in the Marvel Universe, the characters often change race and sex and sometimes become villains for a while. The message is that America looks like Anthony Mackie as much as Chris Evans, as the original subtitle of New World Order suggests. Bat-Seraph is an Israeli superheroine with Mossad training and of course she is controversial. There were protests from both Palestinian and Israeli supporters. As far as I recall, there were no protests because the original Black Widow was Russian.
Harrison Ford lobbied for a role in a Marvel movie and was chosen to replace the late William Hurt as President Thunderbolt Ross. He does not say, “Get off my plane!” He took the role without seeing a script and I don’t know if he realized he would turn into the Hulk. That was one of the most fun bits in the movie. A scene in which President Ross is the victim of an assassination attempt was cut from a teaser trailer after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. At a press event, Mackie said that Captain America stands for honor, dignity and integrity, implying that Trump doesn’t, and someone else said that a Red Hulk destroying the White House was a perfect symbol of the Trump presidency. A superhero movie is full of people with the powers and the personalities of Greek or Norse gods beating up on each other and destroying the sets around them. It should be looked at with a sense of humor. Politics is utterly devoid of a sense of humor, in my opinion. That’s why it provides so much fodder for comedians.
Half the viewers liked the movie and half didn’t. The reviews were often a bit snarky. It doesn’t inspire much confidence in the upcoming Avengers Doomsday in 2026 and Avengers Secret Wars in 2027. But Mackie’s fight choreography and flying are gorgeous, the Red Hulk is both amusing and thrilling, and Ruth-Saraph kicks butt with the best of them.